John Francis Holecek was born on May 7,1972 and is an American former professional football player and nationally recognized football coach.
52 Facts About John Holecek
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John Holecek played linebacker for eight seasons in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills, the San Diego Chargers, and the Atlanta Falcons.
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John Holecek went to college at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and played with perhaps the best college linebacker corps ever assembled.
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John Holecek was drafted by the Bills in 1995, played for the Chargers in 2001, and for the Falcons in 2002.
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John Holecek played in the NFL for 8 seasons and was credited for over 560 career tackles; awarded NFL's "Player of the Week" honors in 1999.
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John Holecek returned to the Chicago area and was the head football coach for 17 years at Loyola Academy - who won the 2015,2018, and 2022 Class 8A Illinois Football State Championships.
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John Holecek was a finalist for the 2015 National Coach of the Year award.
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John Holecek was a three-sport athlete at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, excelling in wrestling, baseball, and football.
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John Holecek was selected to a Chicago all-star baseball team that toured Europe his junior summer, but he decided to play football after receiving multiple Big Ten and division one scholarship offers.
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John Holecek played both tight end and middle linebacker for Marian coach Dave Mattio.
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Coach Mattio reflected on John Holecek in a 2001 Times newspaper interview, "Most people don't know he was a good catcher and could have been a great wrestler," Mattio said.
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John Holecek was a tough kid, I compare him to street kid because of his toughness and being hard-nosed on the field.
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John Holecek finished his high school career with 243 tackles, 13 sacks, two fumble recoveries, three interceptions, two punts blocked, 16 receptions and 2 TD passes.
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John Holecek had his NFL jersey number 52 retired by his alma mater in 2000.
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John Holecek was the Illini's co-Defensive Player of the Year in his red-shirt freshman season.
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John Holecek made the All-Big in 1993 and 1994 teams, and was a team captain.
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John Holecek suffered multiple ACL injuries during his Illinois career, dampening prior Butkus Award consideration.
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John Holecek was part of the linebacker foursome that gave Illinois the nickname "Linebacker U" in the 1990s.
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John Holecek is fifth on the Illinois career tackles list with 436 and was twice named honorable mention All-America.
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John Holecek graduated as a finance major with some credits towards his master's degree.
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John Holecek's arm-wrestling match with his childhood hero, legendary Walter Payton, was stated to be one of his greatest college football-related moments.
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John Holecek has incredible toughness and intelligence, and that is rare combination.
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John Holecek was drafted in 1995 by the Buffalo Bills in the fifth round if the NFL draft of the 1995 NFL Draft.
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John Holecek was drafted by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy.
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John Holecek had hoped to be drafted by his hometown Chicago Bears, and had discussions with the new head coach Dave Wannstedt.
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John Holecek reported to the perennial Super Bowl bound Bills rookie camp in April 1995.
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John Holecek played six seasons with the Bills, averaging over 14 starts his last three seasons.
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John Holecek emerged as a defensive stalwart and on-field coach for the Bills, notching an incredible 414 tackles from 1998 to 2000 and became known for his technique and football acumen.
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John Holecek started eight games over the course of his first three seasons with the Bills.
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In 1997 John Holecek provided the first glimpse of his promising future as he recorded 86 combined tackles in eight starts.
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Head coach Marv Levy stated decades later that John Holecek was one of his favorite NFL players to coach.
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In 1998 John Holecek led the Bills with 133 tackles in his first season as a full-time starter and was named the team's recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award.
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John Holecek was credited with a career game high of 21 tackles during game film review of the Miami Dolphins Wild Card playoff game.
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In 1999 John Holecek tallied 116 combined tackles, including 63 unassisted, to go along with one sack, one interception, six passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
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John Holecek played in San Diego for one partial season; he finished the last five games of the season on injured reserve as a knee problems limited him to just 11 injury-riddled appearances.
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John Holecek then signed with the Atlanta Falcons in his 8th season.
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John Holecek was reunited with Falcon defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who tutored John Holecek for six seasons while serving as defensive coordinator or head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
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John Holecek seriously re-injured his right arm in the last game of the regular season and the resulting wrist surgery was career ending.
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At the insistence of Nick Rassas John Holecek applied for the head coach position at Loyola Academy, a private college preparatory in Wilmette, Illinois.
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Since taking the reins in 2006, John Holecek's teams have been to the playoffs every year, which includes sixteen IHSA State Playoff appearances, and led Loyola to four consecutive State Final games from 2015 through 2018.
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John Holecek's teams have won at least 11 games for the last nine consecutive years.
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The 2010 team was the start of John Holecek's run on Chicago Catholic League Blue championships.
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John Holecek told the Chicago Tribune, "We haven't thrown one ball in the fourth quarter".
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In early Nov 2017, John Holecek became the school's all-time coaching leader with 133 wins - including the last ten in a row and 31 consecutive victories at home.
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John Holecek's LA coaching career concluded with him having Loyola's all-time win record and the highest winning percentage amongst active Illinois high school coaches.
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In early December 2022, John Holecek announced that he would be leaving Loyola at the end of the school year.
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John Holecek was considered the best coach in the state, if not in the Midwest.
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In September 2011, John Holecek was inducted into the Chicago Sports Hall-of-Fame.
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John Holecek received accolades for his grit and determination and for dealing with adversity by successfully rehabbing three major knee injuries.
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In January 2016, John Holecek was named one of six finalists for the 2016 US Army All-American Bowl National Coach of the Year award.
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In November 2018, John Holecek was awarded 22nd Century Media's 2018 Football 'Coach of the Year'.
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John Holecek served as the Buffalo Bills spokesman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.